Tsuchigumo
by D. A. Nico
Summary: The war is over, life is just starting to settle down, but old threats are still eminent. When the opportunity to take out a black-market boss that's dealing in some extremely shady business appears, the Hokage knows now might be her only chance to stop him. He only wants one thing, a marriage. Tsunade's got a dangerous plan, one that requires suppressing her pupils chakra and marr


**Tsuchigumo**

Prologue: The Mission

"Just one more spot and you'll be good to go."

Sakura gently placed her hand against the chin of the small child, who was much calmer now than when he had arrived. The little boy had been brought into the hospital about an hour ago, cradled protectively by an extremely worried mother. His own face had been red and swollen from tears and the injuries he'd sustained from his fall. The story was simple, he'd been playing in the backyard and when his mom had gone inside to check on dinner for a split second he had managed to do what any child his age was remarkably good at, getting himself into trouble.

Little Kenchi had managed to climb up onto the wood pile in the corner of the yard, where he was attempting to peak over the wooden fence into the alley behind his home. This apparently being a semi-regular occurrence his mom mentioned that he was often chastised for. Except this time, he'd fallen off, broken his arm and scraped up his shoulder, knees and chin.

"Now, have we learned anything today Kenchi?" Sakura asked sweetly as she gently took an antiseptic napkin and wiped the last of the blood from the completely healed cut on his small chin.

The little boy mumbled something under his breath and looked at his hands that were clenched between his little knees, an ashamed look on his downturned face.

Sakura smirked as she turned and went to the drawer and quickly pulled out a piece of sweet candy placed atop a white stick, "How about we make a deal? If you promise not to climb on the wood pile anymore and listen to what your mom says I'll give you not one, but two suckers." Sakura lavishly pulled a second one out from behind her and held them up for his bright-eyed inspection.

The sweets were to hard for Kenchi to say no to and instead he politely held his hands up, "I promise not to climb or scare mama."

"Excellent," Sakura smiled brightly at the young boy before scooping him up under the armpits and holding him tight against her side before transferring him over to his now, much calmer mother.

"Kenchi should be fine, everything has been healed and there wasn't any sign of a head injury. Just keep a look out for headaches or him having any unusual sleeping issues tonight." She informed as she ruffled the dark brown hair of the boy who'd already popped one piece of candy into his mouth.

"Thank you so much Haruno-san, we are so grateful that you were here." She bowed her head, careful not to tip the boy to much before she departed the room. Kenchi waved enthusiastically back towards her as they disappeared around the corner.

Before she could set about cleaning and resetting the examination room a shinobi that Sakura couldn't quite recall the name of but was aware that he worked in the Hokage's office appeared with a scroll in hand, "Mission statement from the Hokage, you're to report to her office immediately."

Sakura nodded her head and took the rolled-up paper, and set it on the counter. From years of working in the Hokage's office and as a shinobi she knew the scroll didn't hold any pertinent information. It was simply a formal paper trail for filing purposes later that showed she had been summoned. She quickly went about her business resetting the small hospital room. Ripping the paper off the table and pulling a new piece across it, she then wiped down all the counter tops and shifted the stool back into the corner of the room. Turning quickly to glance over the area one more time she flicked the light switch and shut the door behind her. The excitement of a possible mission suddenly making her pick up her pace as she checked out at the nurses' station.

* * *

"Naruto, did you really bring your dinner along?"

Sakura watched as her blonde haired best friend whipped around, careful not to slosh the ramen broth out of the to-go container he was coddling. Chopsticks full of noodles, mid poise ready to be devoured.

"Duh, I wasn't going to waste dinner just because Grandma Tsunade decided to call us here so late. Were you working?" He asked gesturing towards her attire.

"Yep, a quiet night at the hospital though." She answered simply, leaving the door propped open behind her. Glancing around the office Tsunade was noticeably absent and surprisingly Naruto had been the first one to arrive. Had she really taken that long or was Naruto, dare she believe it, becoming a little more punctual to his summons?

She could hear but not see Tonton sleeping beneath Tsunade's desk. It wasn't often that Sakura saw the aging pet pig do anything more then sleep, eat and enjoy a daily stroll around the gardens outside the Hokage tower. Walking around the big oak piece in the middle of the room she quietly pulled the chair out and looked underneath to see said animal flipped upside down on her back, all four feet in the air twitching with her dreams and the gentle breathing of her snores radiated out in her contented state. Sakura smirked and shook her head before reaching down and patting Tonton gently on the stomach, as expected she didn't even flinch.

"Any clue where anybody else is?" Sakura asked walking back around and took a seat in the chair beside Naruto.

With noodles hanging from his full mouth Naruto just shook his head but paused when the door creaked open for its newest guests. Sasuke and Sai trailed in quietly after each other and before Sakura could greet either one of them Shizune and Tsunade filed in as well and closed the door behind them.

"Welcome, glad to see you brought enough to share Naruto." Tsunade rolled her eyes before making her way around the desk and taking a seat.

Naruto seemed to pause and then pretended he didn't hear the Hokage as he slurped up the last of his noodles quickly and placed the container below his chair.

"Right, so, I have a mission for you guys."

"Yes! Finally! It's been so boring around here!" Naruto cheered as he sat up further in his seat.

"Yes, well this one will be a little bit different and needs to be handled with a lot of secrecy and a little bit of finesse." Tsunade offered.

"Finesse? Intricate and refined delicacy. You expect that from Dickless?" Sai asked point blank as he stepped forward to be a part of the conversation.

Before Naruto could complain Tsunade smirked but held up her hand to pause him, "Everyone will have their parts. How much do you four know about Kazuo Tsukasa?"

"He's the leader of the black-market group, Tsuchigumo, among other terrible things and rumored to live somewhere in the Land of Valleys…" Sakura started off.

"And virtually untouchable." Sasuke finished, standing off to the side of the desk with his arms crossed, his signature almost bored look gracing his features.

"Well, you guys aren't incorrect. This morning I received this letter from him." Tsunade leaned forward and passed it to Sakura, "If you would please read it out loud for the rest of the class."

Taking it she quickly flipped the paper over and stared at the broken seal on the back of the scroll, "Tsunade, this is the seal of Tsuchigumo… and the only person who uses the seal is Tsukasa himself..."

Tsunade nodded her head, "Yes, I know. Now please," she gestured once more.

Sakura cleared her throat, "Dearest Godaime Hokage. With the war now, a year and half over and the world finally but slowly getting back to normal, it has come to my attention that Konohagakure and many of the smaller villages in the Fire Country may or may not need the aid of someone in my position that could provide it. It would be my greatest honor, and an excellent idea for you to agree to this symbiotic alliance that I am about to propose. In return for my unbelievably generous offer of support, I in turn would request for an arranged marriage between myself, the Leader of Tsuchigumo, and any civilian daughter of your choosing from an affluent family that holds great stature and sway within your country. I'm trusting that you'll choose wisely, as I do have a type and beauty does count. I look forward to hearing from you, soon."

The scroll hadn't been signed off at the end, but it did have the stamp of a spider in the bottom right corner.

"You can't possibly think sending a civilian woman to this... man, if that's what you want to call him is a good idea? Besides he must be sorely informed, Konoha and this country are not suffering to a point of needing help…" Sakura finally said holding up the piece of paper before tossing it back onto the desk. Sai reached forward to grab and scan the piece of paper himself.

"No Sakura, this isn't about giving Kazou Tsukasa what he wants, it's about finally getting an opening to put ourselves in position to finally capture and put a stop to him, his group and all the shady deals he's infamous for." Tsunade stated pointedly.

Sakura watched as her teammates transformed around her, their interest peaked by the idea of taking down a man that had evaded their capture and his own death for years upon years. In Sakura's opinion Kazuo was the vilest kind of human being out there. When his name and face initially bounced into the bingo book he was buying, trading and selling illegal items. Drugs, stolen heirlooms, smaller things but nothing his home country or a closer country couldn't have taken care. Except he must have paid off or threatened a higher power in his country because he was never captured. And in decently quick time his power and influence grew. But with the growth of that came worse and worse things. While there was not actual proof, there was a rumor that Kazuo had started buying and selling a whole new item; people, and preferably younger women. An idea that made Sakura sick to her stomach.

There had been attempts to thwart the dealer throughout the years, but Kazou had taken an extreme amount of extra measures to ensure he was protected from any super power that may attempt to threaten or take his life. It was a known fact that the man never allowed, unless under special circumstances, anyone with chakra within hundreds of feet of him or his place of residence.

The second biggest problem they had learned about a year ago. A neighboring village who had attempted to stop him, had recognized that he must have commissioned a seal maker at some point in the recent past. His body alone was quite literally impenetrable. Everything the village had sent at Kazou had visibly bounced off him. Weapons, ninjutsu, genjutsu and even people, shinobi reported attempting to grab him and feeling their hands being deflected and sliding right past his flesh. The report had said the barrier can't be seen, but obviously covers his entire body and no one is sure exactly where the seal was on the leader's body.

"Tsunade-sama, even if we could get close to him, how are we supposed to touch him? Between his seal, and his very well-paid chakra sensors it would be-"

Sakura was cut off by Tsunade, "I understand the risks, unless we could see the seal there is physically no way we could have it removed. So, we are going to have wait for him to do it himself."

There was a questioning silence as they all waited for a better explanation.

"Hear me out, I'm going to agree to his marriage proposal. However, I won't be sending a civilian. I'm going to send you four." Tsunade gestured around the room at the team.

Sakura knew there was a large frown on her face as she shook her head once before stopping herself. She was a shinobi being prepped for a mission, she had no right to decline her Hokage. She caught Tsunade's eye and all she got in return was the steely gaze of a Hokage that was putting her country and her village first. A Hokage that was all business and understood that her shinobi, every single one of them was trained for missions like this.

She felt more then saw Sasuke stir uneasily beside her as the realization seemed to settle in for him as well. Sai remained still and silent. It only took Naruto a couple extra seconds to do the math. She could see the cogs turning in his head. If there was going to be a marriage and only the four of them were going, and there was only one female then that one female was the one that Tsunade was about to marry to a black-market boss known for treating women like utter trash. Out of the corner of her eyes she watched his face turn red and his mouth drop wide open.

"You're going to marry Sakura to that creep?!" Naruto leapt forward, his chair sliding back as he looked around the room and then back at Tsunade completely bewildered. To Sakura, the sound of Naruto's chair seemed to echo for a long, long time even after it had stopped.


End file.
